Recently, I revisited Empresses in the Palace. The plot is as wonderful as ever, and the characters created in it are lifelike. However, as a foodie, my concern is a little biased. After watching the drama, all kinds of delicious foods appear in my mind, such as jujube paste and yam cakes that Shen Meizhuang likes and crab cakes that Empress Hua loves. In this way, I can't help but wonder what strange foods were there in ancient times. Are you as curious as I am? I looked up the information overnight and shared it with the same curious babies. Oh ~
Fruits:
1. Cold elixir
Ancient people also liked to eat fruits, and they used fruits to make exotic foods. The "Cold elixir" in Qing Yi Lu in the Northern Song Dynasty is an example. It is to pick more than 1 immature Shaguo and soak them in honey for ten days. Interestingly, in ancient times, Shaguo was not called this name, but Lin Ling. When the time comes, put on new honey, add cinnabar (mercury sulfide) 22, stir well and seal it. After one month, take out the forest soaked in honey and dry it in the shade. It is said that it has a strange effect.
2. Honey-fried green plums
Honey-fried green plums are a strange food invented by people in the Yuan Dynasty, which is called delicious food, but the seasoning used is incredible, because a lot of verdigris is used, which is called basic copper carbonate in modern terms. There is a saying in the Book of Songs: "There is plum, but it is actually seven-xi", which means plum. This dish is very simple: take green apricots or green plums, peel them, roll in patina powder, and then marinate them repeatedly with raw honey to remove their sour gas. Plum is a kind of fruit that I personally like very much, but I wonder if I can have the courage to taste this delicious food if I go back to ancient times.
Cakes: jujube paste shortcake
Jujube paste shortcake is one of the most famous cakes at the Manchu-Han banquet in ancient times. It is said that this snack was specially designed for Empress Dowager Cixi that year, and ordinary people simply could not eat it. Although the practice is not complicated, it is to use crispy noodles as the skin and golden jujube as the filling. Of course, there was no oven in ancient times, but the imperial kitchen could make this cake. It looks bright and attractive, and it tastes amazing when it is crisp outside and tender inside, which is really amazing.
dishes: roasted cicada
Although cicada is an insect, it does not delay its becoming a kind of delicious food. It was recorded as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. In Zhuangzi? In Da Sheng, it is recorded that Confucius saw an old man skillfully capture cicadas, and in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Cao Zhi, a gifted scholar, also wrote Cicada Fu, and the "natural enemy" who jokingly learned cicadas was nothing but a chef. During the Qianlong period, Chaozhou Fuzhi also recorded how to eat roasted cicadas: "Chaozhou people often take cicadas and spit them in the fire." To put it simply, local people often catch cicadas, and enjoy delicious food after roasting with full fire. It's really a strange food.
I think the above-mentioned cuisines are quite strange. Some of them have been lost for a long time, while others can still be seen in modern times. Which one do you like best?
note: the picture comes from the internet, if the infringing contact is deleted.